New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-05-22
-ROSSETTI
rur cHreroF NEo-RoMANTICisM.

The poems of Dante Rossett nave never hau
vogue proportonate either to their intrinsic value
or to their influence upon the literary movement
of our time; and yet serious critca! opinion mas
from the first been practically agreed ii ho'
about their best qualities at least about tner pro
found significance. Before he had puohsned MS
first volume the spirit and something of the method
of mi. fne noetartst were at ork in the writings
of ardent vmnc contemporaries He was an author
who did not print Just as he was painter who did
not exhibit: but he was recognized by an In
portant circle Of connoisseurs and poets as
forcible and original genius, representing better
than any other the lines upon which poeticai ad-
yancement seems at present destined to proceed
The az pearapce of his translations from o." Inc
Early Italian Poets" in 1861 called attention 10 'ho
extreme beauty of workmanship and suotiety Oh
sympathy which readers OF "Ihe Term nau
learned 70 admire In his few contributions to that
somewhat esoteric periodical. His irst collection
of original poems, published in 1870. when he was
forty-two years old might fairly be called u
literary sensation Yet it is clear that fame in his
cass did not mean popularity. 1t was eleven years
before he published another volume; and it took
the booksellers six years dispose of that and so
to clear the way for the present complete collection
which. besides being the orly edition containing
all the pieces which the author wished to preserve
Is also The only one in which we can trace the
deyelopment of bis genius at any particular PERIOD
It embraces the collections OF 1871 ana 1901, inc
"Early Italian Poets (now called Dante ana MS
Circle " few poems and fragments hitherto M
collected. and few prose pieces. The additional
poems are not of special Importance, although
lovers of Rossetti will be glad to have them. The
prose specimens, however, are highly interesting
They include several critical essays, some studios
for poems and pictures. a mystical tale entitled
l.xl~ iii tvyf ana q n
pressed with rare charm of style, and still moro
remarkable but unfinished story called "st' Agnes
of Intercession."
While the Alterations Of some OF Rossettis
followers have certainly lost the attraction they
once possessed for light-minded enthusiasts, the
reputation of the master himself grows more sub
stantal and moro extensive. and we shall not
wonder to see him acquire at last popularity for
which he has been held rather too choice The
romanticsm in which be is stepped is regarded as
the characteristic of a new progressive school in
literature and art, but it is also the manifestation
of general tendency of the time, so strong and 80
far-reachiny that hardly any of the living poetry
OF our generation has escaped it. The new roman
ticsm is observable in the maturest and most
vigorous work of Tennyson, no less than IN the IN
tensity of Browning; and widely as these two poets
differ from each other and from .Rossetti, all three
alike bear the stamp Of their age and are IN
harmony with its aspirations In particular. hos
setti's fondness for subtle spiritual experience
and the mysterious relationships of soul and body,
firs with .he temper of generation whose sceptcal
and materialistic habits ara curiously combined
with passion for speculationg about the unseen
and fondling the revived superstitions of remote
times aud countries Moreover Rossetti is es-
pecially man of our dag in his insistence upon
the lofty Importance of artistic expression in
poetry, his veneraton for the sensuous beauty of
harmonious form. of rhythmic movement, of soft,
rich. soothing color. In the finished workmanship
of his best pieces he is inferior to no poet of the
century probably there is no living poet who
might not learn of him. This exquisite polish Of
verse is not often sign of poetic fertility and
hundreds of more or less popular writer's are now
laborng at it who seem Indifferent to attaining
anything else but with Rossetti the imaginative
and constructive faculties moved as if by single
impulse, that it is where the form of his poem is
most perfect that generally find the spirituality
most marked. No one wonld think of asking
whether his poetical or artistic feeling was the
stronger, for in him the two the sane. Some
times it seems to have been for chance TO decide
whether he should express his idea by ballad or
painting Upon either he conscientiously spent his
full technical skill. His brother tells that he
thought he had mastered the means of embodying
poetical conceptions in the verbal and rhythmical
vehicle moro thoroughly than in form and design,
perhaps moro thoroughly than in color"
II Mr.. Robert Buchanan had understood the
essentially artistic character of Rossetti's poetry,
ey be- with his fatal pror ensty to false criticism
could never have written the famous article on
q The Fleshly School of Poetry" in which the
auther of q The House of Life" was denounced for
sensualty. Mr. Buchanan has since acknowledged
his blunder and has forgiven Rossetti for being
the victim Of ii. The Rossettians, however, have
not forgiven Mr.. Buchanan. The assault pro-
duced IN Rossett." says his brother. I" an effect
altogether disproportionato 10 its intrinsic i'm
portance; indeed, 1t developed in his character an
excess of senstveness and of distemperod brooding
which his nearest relatives and friends had never
before surmsed." Ali the last ten years of be life
were c,ouded; and Buchanan's venom of detrac-
ton the first moving cause of long train OF
evils. The artistic temperament sees types of the
spirit in the forms of physical beauty; the pictorial
method naturally itself in the representa-
ton of sensuous charms. When the images of the
fair body suggest to the lovely invisible essence
then we felt the presence of the true poet The
effect of work of art often depends more upon the
spectator than the artist. But there can DO no
reasonable doubt of the purity and refinement of
Rossetti's purpose, even in those few passages to
which Mr. buchanan. under the Impression that
sensuous spells sensual. objected on moral grounds.
For an instructive contrast between refined and
Innocent and gross animal sensuality,
one can do no better than to compare Rossetti's
so-calIed feshly lines with some of the unquot-
able passages of Leaves Of Grass"
Mr. William NJ. Rossetti's q Preface" is more than
that name implies. for 1t covers a sketch Of his
brothers life character and habits which we
should like to commend to the study OF all
biegraphers. The tone and style of this admin able
paper are as good as its substance There is no
elaborate criticism of Rosssttis poetry but theic
are many suggestive remarks upon 1t which indi-
cate both the ripeness of the writer's judgment and
the closeness of his sympathy with the subject of
his sketch. He gives rs a,pleasant picture of
ark aha family pronn. and IL Ia crafifrinn In